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Credit & Copyright: Damian Peach
Explanation:
Wandering
through the constellation Sagittarius,
bright planets Mars and Saturn appeared together
in early morning skies over the
last
weeks.
They are captured in this 3 degree wide field-of-view from March 31
in a close celestial triangle with large globular
star
cluster Messier 22.
Of course M22 (bottom left) is about 10,000 light-years distant,
a massive ball of over 100,000 stars much older than our Sun.
Pale yellow and shining by reflected sunlight, Saturn (on top) is
about 82 light-minutes away.
Look carefully and you can spot large moon Titan
as a pinpoint of light at about the 5 o'clock position in the glare
of Saturn's overexposed disk.
Slightly brighter and
redder Mars
is 9 light-minutes distant.
While both planets are moving on toward upcoming oppositions,
by July Mars will become much
brighter still,
with good telescopic views
near its 2018 opposition a mere 3.2 light-minutes from planet Earth.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: M 22 - Mars - Saturn
Publications with words: M 22 - Mars - Saturn
See also: